Despite his name, Mason Crane is not some kind of specialist stoneworking construction vehicle. No, HE IS A DESTRUCTION… person.

Crane is a 20-year-old leg-spinner who boasts the customary English leg-spinner’s first-class bowling average of 39. Things have changed over the winter though and from now on you’re going to start noticing everyone going mental about him.

This post gives you the opportunity to get in early. Forewarned, you can be ahead of the game and deploy your jaded cynicism from the outset.

Crane went to Australia this winter and hung out with Stuart MacGill. He played grade cricket, took three seven-wicket hauls on the bounce and was picked by New South Wales. He took 2-50 and 3-66 for them.

After that, he headed to the UAE for the North v South series. In the third match, he ripped out the North’s three, four, five and six in a spell of 4-1, which you can see highlights of here.

Pitches vary, but the drift hints that he is – in standard cricket parlance – giving it a rip, which can only be a good thing.

Having hopped straight over the bandwagon, our current position is that leg-spinners are never really fit for purpose at the age of 20, but Crane appears to have made rapid progress over the winter and we’re keen to see him do well this coming season.

We may remount the bandwagon at some point further down the line, so we’re just going to leave today’s article behind as a marker to prove that we’ve already been aboard.

11 Appeals

This is a great article, because it allows me to tell the world that every time I read, hear or think about Mason Crane, which is surprisingly often, considering I’m not particularly interested in him as a person or a cricketer, I start singing “Oh Mason Crane” to the tune of Amazing Grace.

At some point last season I had ‘Roland-Jones you’ve been gone so long’ running in my head. I was fine with how camp that was but was shocked by the knowledge that Bananarama rests in some godforsaken recess of my brain.

This is ace. Many, many thanks for the opportunity, KC. English cricket watching only has two modes – misery, and unrealistic optimism followed by misery. It’s been a while since we’ve had a seat on the train to Despondency Central, calling at Anticipation Street, Smugness North, Disappointment Square and Reality Junction, but I reckon this might be our ticket.

As things stand, he’s young, clearly talented, equally clearly unplayable, a combination of the best of Warne and the best of Swann. I’ll be very surprised if he’s not in the test team by next Thursday, on the Lord’s honours board within a year and with his portrait on the wall within the decade. All aboard!